Surgical portals allow for accessing underlying body tissue in order to introduce surgical objects during a medical procedure. Typically, surgical ports are used in minimally invasive procedures including arthroscopic, laparoscopic, an endoscopic procedures.
As minimally invasive surgeries involve making one or more small incisions at appropriate locations and inserting surgical instruments through the incisions to the surgical site, surgical portals allow for such surgical instruments to be more efficiently and safely used. Controlling the surgical instruments is of utmost importance as the surrounding tissue can easily be damaged through inadvertent contact with the instruments.
In many instances, the surgical portal is used to maintain a pathway from an external incision to a surgical site, such as a hip joint. The portal scope is of such a diameter that incorrect placement of the distal tip within the joint capsule could injure the femoral head or other organs or tissues of other types of endoscopic surgical sites. Therefore, accurate placement is very desirable. In some situations, it is desirable for the surgical portal to be transparent to enable viewing through a surgical instrument with a viewing scope to observe the environment of the surgical site.